V. Chitambaresh, J.

1. The plaint has been rejected for non payment of the balance court fee in a suit for specific performance by the judgment impugned in this Regular First Appeal. Only a nominal court fee of Rs. 25/- presumably under Schedule II Article 3(iii)(A)(1) of the Kerala Court Fees and Suits valuation Act, 1959 ('the Act' for short) is seen paid. A doubt was raised as to whether the appellant is obliged to pay the same fee as would be payable in the court of the first instance under S. 52 of the Act. The appellant thereupon relied on the decision in Thanappan v. Hassan Kappor (2003 (2) KLT 39) and the relevant part of it reads as follows :-

"Since the plaint was rejected under Order VII R. 11(b) of the C.P.C., there is no adjudication as to the subject matter of the suit. Hence we are of the view there is no justification in directing the parties to pay the ad valorem court fee."

It is beyond dispute that the definition of a decree under S. 2(2) of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 ('CPC for short') includes also the rejection of a plaint. The Act does not make any difference between an adjudicated decree and a non-adjudicated decree in the matter of filing an appea